Fresh paint, new carpets part of mayor's office renovations

Speaking Tuesday morning on the Brent Loucks Show, Charlie Clark said they’ve already slapped a new coat of paint on his digs at city hall, with other changes coming.

“In not just our office, but in that whole section of city hall,” he said. “It’s been 20 or 30 years since there’s been a carpeting change.”

Clark said a storage room will be converted to an office to replace space that was long ago ceded to another city department. While no one new will be added to the office, the move is meant to get all existing staff working out of the same part of the building.

Clark noted some changes are geared towards making the office a better space to hold meetings. He explained city hall’s existing meeting rooms are often booked up, leaving him scrambling to host visitors.

“The office, as it was when I moved in, was not a very functional space to hold meetings. We do have delegations that come in quite often,” he said.

Clark added he’s been looking at ways to keep costs down —such as commissioning a local group to build a new meeting table.

“I’ve asked the Core Neighbourhood Youth Co-Op to help with building the meeting table. It’s a cost-effective way, but also a way that supports a local organization,” he said.

Along with improving function and addressing overdue maintenance, Clark said there was an element of civic pride involved with brightening up the space.

“We’re trying to do it as cost effectively as we can. You want to have a good space that shows a modern, active mayor’s office to the community as people come visit me there,” he said.

Clark promised to release a list of all costs incurred after the work is complete.

A spokesperson for the mayor said because some work started in 2016 and other items will be covered this year, they are still working on a detailed accounting of all costs.

She noted a few items, such as re-carpeting the section of city hall including Clark’s office, will be paid for out of the city’s building maintenance budget.

Other items, like the new table, would come out of the mayor’s office budget. The spokesperson noted several items in that budget, such as Clark’s vehicle and travel expenses, are expected to come in lower than the sums currently allotted.